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Archive for April, 2008

I have so many thoughts swirling in my mind about the current political drama. It’s like a soap opera. The mainstream has a stranglehold on the spin, and it’s a vicious cycle. There are blogs, but do all of the voices get lost in the chatter?

I enjoy reading Richard Prince’s perspective on journalism, and political affairs. His latest column is entitled, Character Assassination.”

On Thursday, journalists and special guests are being invited to check out a preview of WonderRoot studios. WonderRoot is a non-profit that helps create goodwill through music and media.

from e-mail

Atlanta arts non-profit WonderRoot celebrates the grand opening of its new community arts space on Thursday, May 1st, 2008. Founded in 2003 by 3 local students, WonderRoot is committed to uniting artists and community to inspire social change. The community arts space is located in the heart of east Atlanta and features an artist residency studio, classrooms, a full service FREE recording studio, digital media lab, and a live practice/performance space.

Senator Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright spoke at the National Press ClubMonday morning. Pure fiya. I think the mainstream media continues to miss the point he’s trying to make. Wright’s message is about reconciliation, healing, and justice for all. It is called liberation theology.

On Saturday, Mario “SupeShooter” Page called, “You wanna ride with me downtown? There’s a protest at the World of Coke.” I was down. Dream for Darfur partnered with a local organization to organize the protest against Coke for being a major sponsor of the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, China.

What’s wrong with that you ask? It’s been reported that China and the Sudanese government have close business ties (you’ll have to do some homework if you don’t follow). By being an Olympic sponsor, Coke is by association supporting the Chinese government and participating in the genocide, or so the argument goes.

We parked, geared up, and the first thing we noticed was a plane flying above with a banner that said “GO OLYMPICS! CNN STOP BASHING CHINESE!!!. Mario shot some b-roll of the banner plane (because the SupeShooter will shoot about anything that moves), and we continued on.

There were about 30 people protesting outside of World of Coke. They said that Coke is a good company, but it could be doing more to pressure China to stop working the Sudanese government. A reporter with the AJC, and a local NBC cameraman were there too.

We shot some b-roll, a couple of interviews, and wrapped up. As we’re leaving downtown we happened to pass CNN and noticed red flags, and thousands of people outside. It looked like another protest. People were also driving by, waving flags out of cars, and honking their horns… all Chinese.

The signs made it pretty obvious why they were there. Jack Cafferty. Back on April 9, Cafferty made some comments that pissed them off. “They’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they have been for the last 50 years,” said Cafferty.

By the time we parked, the police were moving the crowds to Centennial Park. Mario started shooting, and then I started interviewing. According to one of the organizers Lucy Lu, they used the Internet to get the word out. One guy even came out of his pocket to pay for the banner plane that was flying above.

A much smaller gathering of about two dozen people protested Saturday outside CNN’s corporate offices in Atlanta, Georgia.

I promise you, there were more than two dozen people. OK maybe there were a dozen left after police ushered everyone else away.

It looks like the local NBC station and we were the only broadcast crews that captured the protest. We called other media, but no one else wanted the footage. At least the AJC was on the ball, and if nothing else, I have MyUrbanReport.